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Sleep

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Original poster

cry before sleep

9 replies

aichi · 08/05/2011 22:31

my dd is 26wks and most of the time she cries before she goes to sleep. you can really tell that she's fighting to go to sleep... does anyone know why she's doing that? overtired? Although I always try putting her down around 2hrs of waking but most of the time she fights it....Its worse when I'm out with friends for a coffee etc and I just have to leave because she's screaming for sleep....

During the day I can't put her to sleep other than going for a walk on a pram.

Any advice on how to send my dd sleep without fighting it?

OP posts:

Snarfle · 09/05/2011 08:26

My DS is 11 weeks and he still does this sometimes. I put it down to overtiredness. I usuall watch for a awn and tr and get him to nap as soon as I see it. If I catch him just as he is getting tired or just slightl before he usuall naps fine (albeit in m arms - another thing we need to tackle!!). If he stiffens up when he is cring this can be a sign he has wind and doesn't want to lie down as he has a pain.

Hope it gets better for you

debka · 09/05/2011 17:34

DD1 cried for about 5-10 minutes before going to sleep until she was 1. I think most babies do- it's a way of releasing tension and just getting off to sleep. BTW if she cries in pram or arms- have you tried just putting her in her cot? I always think if she's going to cry one way or the other, might as well make it somewhere convenient .

Original poster

aichi · 09/05/2011 19:39

debka - we go through phases, sometimes she'll fall asleep peacefully during the day (always in the pram) and night (cot) and she would cry for 5-10mins but the last few days she just cant self settle anymore other than scream for 30mins or more.
During the day I take her out on a pram and its fine, but now she can't self settle in the evening...she fights it so hard and gets upset
I dont really know why she's suddenly turned like this

I always start her bed time routine about 6pm, with a bath, read a book or two and feed but it just seems it takes her over 1 hr to sleep. Really dont understand.
Could it be something to do with starting to wean her?

OP posts:

ellabella2 · 09/05/2011 19:46

Aichi there are quite a few of us on these threads at the moment with 6/7mo whose sleep has gone haywire. It seems to be quite common. There is so much going on for them what with teething, weaning, lots of big motor developments like rolling and crawling and just generally getting more and more alert to the world around them and not wanting to miss out on anything.

I don't really have any advice but you have my sympathy

My DS refused to go down in his cot or in the pushchair for any of his naps today. Tomorrow he may well go down without any fuss. RANDOM

OneLittleHopper · 09/05/2011 20:48

More sympathy here! DS (7mo) used to settle beautifully in the evenings until he turned 6mo, and now he usually cries and is much harder to settle. He also seems much more unsettled generally during the night - often randomly crying in his sleep and sometimes waking up for no apparent reason. I'm just assuming it's a developmental thing, given he seems to be doing something new every day at the moment. And therefore that it will eventually pass...

Not sure if you've already tried it, but we find white noise is quite helpful to settle him in the evenings sometimes.

Original poster

aichi · 09/05/2011 22:21

I've tried putting lullaby but it only worked for 5 mins or so and she started cyring...She's such a stubborn girl like her parents! She never give up!
I'll try white noise tomorrow night

But it might be true about a developmental thing as she's now learnt to roll over in the last few days and she keeps rolling over whenever I put her down and started to wean her and I guess she's learning to use the spoon and chewing.
I guess it must be tiring to take all these new skills at the age of 6months! and more to come I suspect...and more sleepless night...

OP posts:

ShuffleBallChange · 16/05/2011 19:47

My DS2, 5 months has just screamed himself to sleep. Its a nightly thing, makes me want to pull my ears off to be honest, but like OP says, it releases tension and its probably cos he is overtired.

matana · 18/05/2011 08:31

DS 6.5 months is all over the place with daytime naps, it's difficult to fit in his meals because i just never know when he's going to get tired. The blessing is that his night time sleep has improved hugely, but i don't want to jinx it!

He's become much more whingey during the day, one minute he's all smiles and trying to make me laugh, the next he's gone into meltdown. Sometimes he'll settle beautifully for naps, sometimes he screams the house down and i feel awful. And there is never any consistency with the length or timing of his naps. Invariably he ends up waking from his final nap more than 3 hours from bedtime and gets massively overtired. If i try fitting in another nap before bedtime he just screams.

Whatever happened to my chilled out little boy who never cried? I feel like i'm failing him somehow and just can't read him at the moment.

Original poster

aichi · 18/05/2011 10:13

matana - I totally sympathise with you...my DD now seen to have 1hr30-2hrs nap every morning for a week now, which is a new thing for her and its really good for me as I can do stuff for myself ; )
I've been putting white noise on when I feed her before she sleeps to calm her down, which seemed to work really well.

I too don't like it when she screams and I dont know why...yes a feeling of failure as a mother.... but most of the time we change the scene/toy/activity and she stops and seem to be happier

OP posts:

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